This blog is about family, including those in my family tree, the primary focus, but also the family of faith, the family of community, and ultimately the family of man. It is a journey of discovery: Who they were, What they did (and Why), and When, Where, and How they lived.

Friday, May 4, 2018

In the news, Saturday, April 14, 2018

Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.Some sources may require subscription.

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from The Baghdad Post-E "Iraq news"

Newspaper · Media/News Company

Trump asks advisers to agree to large strike on Syria
President Donald Trump is prodding his military advisers to agree to a more sweeping retaliatory strike in Syria than they consider prudent, and is unhappy with the more limited options they have presented to him so far, White House and other administration officials said, according to Wall Street Journal. In meetings with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Mr. Trump has been pushing for an attack that not only would punish the Syrian regime but also exact a price from two of its international patrons, Russia and Iran, a White House official said. This comes amid rising tensions as the Western powers are seeking a major strike in Syria in response to Assad atrocities. The US, the UK and France are leading the push to hit Assad and his allies hard in the war-torn Syria.

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from BBC News (UK)

LEFT-CENTER BIAS

Syria air strikes: US and allies attack 'chemical weapons sites'The US, UK and France have bombed three government sites in Syria in an early morning operation targeting chemical weapons facilities, they say. The move is a response to a suspected chemical attack on the town of Douma last week which killed dozens. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he condemned the Western strikes "in the most serious way".

The NSA Wants a Skeleton Key to Everyone's Encrypted Data
Encryption can protect personal data from government intrusion, which means the government wants the key to break it. If the executive agencies have their way, the NSA will have a record of every lock combination in use by every company—a skeleton key, if you will, to gain access to your digital home, papers, effects, and aspects of your person without warrant or probable cause—effectively mandating that companies hand over skeleton keys to the locks that they provide to their users, at any time: what they call “exceptional access.” This is this Trojan horse that the NSA means to use to gain access to your private data even when it is encrypted.

Statement by the North Atlantic Council on Actions taken against the use of chemical weapons in Syria
In the North Atlantic Council today the United States, France and United Kingdom briefed Allies on their joint military action on 14 April. They briefed that a significant body of information indicated that the Syrian regime was responsible for the attack against civilians in Douma on 7 April, and that their military action was limited to the Syrian regime’s facilities enabling the production and employment of chemical weapons. The three Allies emphasized that there was no practicable alternative to the use of force.